Pats cancel outdoor game

huh, $300 for a game outside in February isn’t popular? hmm./Jaecy Bells

Due to poor ticket sales, game moves inside

The Regina Pats announced due to unpredictable weather and low ticket sales, the Regina Pats are moving the outdoor game planned for February 18 against the Moose Jaw Warriors at Mosaic Stadium indoors.

This announce comes as predicted by some, since the team had received negative feedback from fans when tickets were first available to sale, calling them overpriced for the event. As such, the reaction lead to less than ideal ticket sales as only 10,000 tickets were sold, half of the original 20,000 goal the team set out in 2017.

It is an unfortunate situation for the team, as the concept was still unique at the junior level, and this game would have been the first of its kind for the Western Hockey League. However, many fans were not so keen on the event after seeing the prices that the tickets were, with tickets reaching up to $239 for lower bowl seats and $179 for upper bowl seats.

Compared to the average ticket price for a Pats game, these are beyond the point of reasonable. For a mostly family event, it was illogical to expect families and students to fork over such large amounts for a game, which would most likely feature freezing February temperatures.

Many fans were dissatisfied that the Pats have went the way of cancellation rather than reducing the ticket prices to the event. Brandon Morgan, a fellow student at the U of R stated his disappointment.

“Cancelling it as the first and reaction seemed impulsive and irrational. Perhaps a better next step could have been to lower price and see if it improved numbers.”

Multiple fans definitely share that view, especially those initial 10,000 who have already invested in the event. At least they would be fully refunded, though the fans have already been disappointed about the event being cancelled.

“(The outdoor game) would have been a cool experience that many hockey fans around here would not normally get to enjoy.” Says Morgan.